


No Matter Who You Are

by caterinawrites



Series: Giftmas [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette, F/M, Fluff, Reveal Fic, brush teeth after reading to avoid cavities, giftmas to my followers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 09:56:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13074453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caterinawrites/pseuds/caterinawrites
Summary: When the reveal happens in a way neither one expected, Marinette and Adrien decide to bring their partners to the very place they stood when they fell in love.





	No Matter Who You Are

Giftmas Day 2

Adrien expected a lot of things on the day that he found out Ladybug’s identity. It was a day he’d dreamed of from the moment he met her, a day he spent hours wondering about. Who could be the most incredible woman in the entire world? He’d always had his guesses, but she never gave him any definitive hints to confirm or deny them. Ladybug always kept her civilian life private, and he’d never really pushed her to even if he tore himself apart with yearning.

There were many ways in which he expected them to finally discover their true identities, most of them involved her falling madly in love with him and deciding that she couldn’t be without him another minute, but it actually happened in a much less dramatic way than he could have ever pictured. They got sloppy and failed to pay attention to their surroundings, and it just sort of happened. After their latest battle, they rounded the corner to the same deserted street only to find a familiar face staring back at them, and before they could really process what was happening, it was too late.

So now there they stood on opposite ends of the same street, eyes locked as they both stood frozen in shock. Adrien wasn’t sure who he expected to be staring back at him, but he couldn’t help but scan every inch of her face, imprinting every fluttering lash and faint freckle into his memory. Of course he knew this face very well. It was the face of someone who had always been right behind him, the face of someone he’d laughed with and cried with. It was the face of someone who had shown him kindness and who constantly inspired him to try harder, but most importantly, it was the face of a dear friend.

“What’s the matter, m’lady? Cat got your tongue?” He wasn’t sure why he said it. Maybe the awkwardness hanging in the air got the better of him, or perhaps the silence just made him panic.

She seemed to process it a moment, her mouth scrunching contemplatively as her brow creased as if she were connecting his two personas in her mind. After a moment, it seemed to click, and she crossed her arms over her chest and cocked a hip to the side.

“He certainly wishes,” She said, a playful glint twinkling in her eyes.

Adrien wasn’t sure who moved first, but soon they were running toward each other, arms outstretched until they finally met in the middle, and Adrien scooped her from the ground. Marinette hugged his neck tightly, their soft giggles echoing through the street. In his arms was the girl he’d spent every night thinking about, driving himself crazy about thinking up new ways to make her laugh. The love of his life, as it turned out, was still the most incredible girl he’d ever met, and she only got better every second.

“I always thought you were gonna do something and screw up, and then I would find out who you were, and you’d relentlessly guilt me until I told you, but I guess I can’t be mad considering we found out at the same time,” She said, rubbing the back of her neck with a mittened hand.

“What? You thought it’d be _my_ fault?” He gasped in mock-offense, and she gave him a look. “Yeah, I guess that is fair.”

“I can’t believe you of all people are Chat Noir.” She looked him up and down, and he flexed an arm for her.

“Oh, come on, you never suspected me to be the most handsome hero in Paris?” He boasted, continuing to show off his muscles despite how his coat concealed them.

“Nah, I always thought Adrien was too cool to be Chat Noir,” She said with a smirk, and he froze mid-flex, deflating a little with a glare, prompting a playful giggle from her.

“Chat Noir is cool!”

“Of course he is,” She snickered, brushing snow from his cheek. “I’ve never thought differently, kitty.”

At that he smiled, a blush creeping over his cheeks, and his gaze dropped to his feet. “So, what do we do now?”

“Well, we can’t tell anyone, obviously,” She said with a shrug, and he shook his head, looking up at her through hooded lashes.

“No, I know, but what do we do about us? I mean, I’ve always valued you as a friend, Marinette. You’re so important to me, but I’ve also always been in love with Ladybug,” He said, and her eyebrows raised in shock. “And knowing that it’s you only makes me love her… _you_ more.”

“You’re in love with me?” She gasped, a blush warming her cheeks.

“Of course,” He smiled then pursed his lips. “Can I show you something?”

“What is it?” Adrien took her hand and tugged her along, leading her a different way towards a subway station. “Adrien, where are we going?”

“You’ll see.” He winked. “Oh, you wouldn’t happen to have any Camembert on you, would you?”

“No.” She gave him a curious look. “I’ve got a couple macarons.”

“He’ll have to make do,” Adrien said, pulling his coat open a little to reveal a little black cat huddling for warmth in his blue scarf.

Marinette reached into her purse and pulled out the extra macaron she kept for Tikki and passed it to Plagg, who took it begrudgingly, and Tikki peaked out, wiping crumbs from her own face and waved to Adrien.

“Her name is Tikki,” Marinette said, using her hand to shield her from other passengers as she moved to hide in Marinette’s coat.

“His is Plagg.”

“So where are you taking me, tom cat?” She demanded, cocking a brow, and a smile curled over Adrien’s lips.

“I said you’ll see.”

Marinette couldn’t believe this was real. Adrien Agreste leading her through the white streets of Paris as snow began to fall from the sky, and for probably the first time since she’d met him, she wasn’t nervous. She didn’t stammer or stumble, and she let him take her by the hand, a moment she’d always dreamed of, and drag her along behind him wherever he saw fit to take her because she trusted him. Her partner, her friend, her pun-loving kitty cat. The boy she had always loved, and the boy she still loved more and more each second.

All those times Chat Noir had saved her and carried her across Paris, all the times she’d mocked him behind his back or pretended to be a fawning damsel seemed so embarrassing now. Every stammer she’d ever uttered around Adrien when she couldn’t find her voice seemed so silly. Because he’d always been by her side and he was just a huge dork. A dork who had always loved her back even if it was her other side. How long they’d been chasing each other in circles, and she couldn’t help but laugh a little at the irony.

When Adrien finally stopped, they were at the Trocadero along the strip leading to the Eiffel Tower. Adrien let go of her hands, taking a few steps forward and framing the famous monument with his fingers and squinting against the snow.

“What are you-”

“Right here,” He said finally, dropping his arms back to his side and turning his torso around to her with a smile. “Right here is where I stood in the battle with Stoneheart and watched you capture all those akumas. This is where I was standing the moment I fell in love with you.”

Marinette felt her heart skip a beat before it erupted and spread blood to her cheeks. She took a few steps to stand at his side, and together they stared up at the Eiffel Tower, remembering that day. How far they’d come since then, and when Adrien took her hand, she gave it a gentle squeeze.

“I was standing right here when you took my breath away, and I swore to myself that I would always love you, no matter who was really under that mask,” He said softly, the small smile fading from his lips as he turned to face her. “I know you may not feel the same way about me, but I can’t hide how I feel anymore. I’ve wanted to tell you for so long, and now that I know who you are, I know that I meant what I said that day.”

She stared up into those earnest eyes of his, remembering the last time he’d looked at her that way. They were eyes that wanted her to believe the truth of his words and accept him as he was, and they were the very eyes that she had fallen in love with on that very same day Adrien mentioned.

“It’s my turn to show you something,” She said, taking his hand, and his eyebrows raised curiously, but he didn’t question her as she led him to the front steps of the school and positioned him purposefully then moved to stand a few feet away, holding out her arm so that their finger-tips just touched.

“Right here,” She said with a warm smile. “Right here is where we stood when I fell head-over-heels for you.”

Adrien returned the smile, though it quickly turned into a wide grin. “When?”

“That same day, coincidentally,” She giggled. “We were standing just like this in the rain.”

“I gave you my umbrella,” He recalled, and she nodded. “And you’ve been in love with me all this time?”

“You couldn’t tell?” She asked, rubbing the back of her neck. “Hey, Adrien, what’s u-blah, ack, tee hee, bleh…Seem familiar?”

Adrien cupped a hand over his mouth to stifle a laugh, and Marinette covered her eyes, suppressing a few giggles of her own. Before she peaked out again, Adrien lifted her from the ground, holding her close and spinning them in a circle, and she wrapped her arms around his neck to steady herself, cheeks flushing when she realized how close together they were now. A day ago being this close to him would have turned her brain to mush, but now there was only elation and comfort because he was someone she had been comfortable with for a long time even if she didn’t realize it.

“So, what do you want to do about us?” He asked again, setting her feet back on the ground and pressing his nose against hers, and she breathed him in for a moment while she weighed it.

“I want to be with you, but…”

“But?” His eyes widened with worry, and she offered him a reassuring smile.

“We’ll have to be careful. We can’t slip up and give away our identities, so everything has to stay between Marinette and Adrien. Chat Noir and Ladybug must remain strictly professional-” She was cut short when Adrien silenced her with a kiss, but she accepted it eagerly, feeling her brain melting just a little bit.

When they pulled away, their eyes met, and all of those hidden feelings surfaced in loving gazes and soft smiles. The person standing before them was a partner, a friend, and now a lover which was something they could both see themselves getting used to. Adrien pressed his forehead to hers and closed his eyes contently, relishing in the knowledge that he held his lady in his arms, and for once, she wasn’t pulling away.

“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem at all, m’lady.”

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Giftmas! I hope you’re all having a wonderful holiday season, and as thanks to every single one of you that follows me on tumblr or FF or AO3, this one is for you! Thank you all for being so sweet and lovely and supportive, it really means a lot. I hope you enjoyed this fluffy reveal scenario I came up with recently. Things have been kind of hectic for me the past couple days, but I will be catching up on Crackmas before Christmas, I promise! Then after Christmas I will be getting back to How to Catch a Ladybug, The Girl Under the Mask, and Lady Luck. So go check out those stories if you haven’t already, and I’ll see you all again soon!


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